A bill increasing per-student public school funding by more than 20% next year and 40% over three years is being heard by the House Education Committee on Wednesday as Alaska legislators seek quick action on one of their top priorities of this year’s session.
House Bill 69 by Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a Sitka independent who co-chairs the education committee, would permanently increase the Base Student Allocation (BSA) instead of the one-time funding increases approved the past two years. The bill also seeks to make up for the erosive effects of inflation due to relatively flat funding for the past 15 years.
Himschoot said she hopes state lawmakers approve the bill by March 15 so school districts drafting their annual budget have time to factor the additional funding into their spending plans before July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
The House Education Committee heard testimony by invited education officials in support of the bill on Monday. Public testimony is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., with the latter session extending as long into the night as necessary so all people who sign up by the 7 p.m. deadline can provide comments.
While a permanent BSA increase is among the top two priorities set by the Democratic-led bipartisan House and Senate majorities, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget for next year contains no increase. He has stated he is willing to consider a boost if legislators approve other education policy goals he favors. Republicans in the Legislature’s minority caucuses are expressing similar views, reiterating stances from last year when a permanent increase failed to pass.
“It’s a starting point,” Sen. Robert Myers, a Fairbanks Republican, said Friday about Himschoot’s bill, noting he wasn’t familiar with its details. “We need to talk about them concurrently. That’s where things failed last year, is the emphasis was on the money, and the policy came secondary, and then there wasn’t as much of a robust discussion on that, and we ended up with a veto.”
The bill would add more than $330 million to next year’s state budget, which legislative leaders have said will likely have a deficit due to a drop in oil prices. The gap will need to be covered by tapping the $2.9 billion Constitutional Budget Reserve, which requires a three-fourth’s vote of both the House and Senate, meaning some votes from the minority caucuses in both chambers will be necessary.
Himschoot said she is not willing to turn HB69 into an omnibus education bill, or tie the legislation to provisions sought by the governor or other legislators.
“I recognize it’s completely politically naive to say no, but I’m going to say no, because in my mind, we have an obligation simply to fund, and every time we put something else in there, we’re bargaining on the backs of our children,” she said. “And I’m just not ready to do that. My leadership might have a different perspective on that, but I fundamentally believe that we have an obligation, and we need to fulfill that obligation.”
Rep. Andi Story, a Juneau Democrat who co-chairs the Education Committee, said she knows HB69 would not make districts completely full, but said it’s a great start. Officials have said more financial security would help recruit educators to school districts that have been struggling with staff shortages in recent years, which would lower class sizes and ensure the continuation of specialized programs.
According to Article VII, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution, the State of Alaska is constitutionally obligated to provide a free public education to every child and young adult.
This chart shows Base Student Allocation adjusted for inflation from fiscal years 2011 to 2024. (U.S. Bureau of Statistics)
The current statutory BSA is $5,960, $30 higher than in 2017 and $280 higher than 2011 – far behind the pace of inflation. One-time increases of $340 during the past fiscal year and $680 for the current fiscal year were approved by lawmakers after attempts at permanent increases failed.
HB69 would result in a BSA of $7,249 for the coming fiscal year, $7,940 the following year and an estimated $8,510 the year after, Himschoot said. The calculations are based on average inflation over a recent three-year period (4.83% for the first year’s increase, based on annual inflation rates from 2021-23), plus an additional $1,000 the first year and $404 for each of the following two years.
Subsequent years would continue to increase the BSA by the average inflation calculation.
“This will flow to our neighborhood schools, our correspondence schools, our homeschool families who are using correspondence and our charter schools,” Rep. Himschoot said. “So, every school benefits.”
The bill would mean nearly $11 million more for the Juneau School District for the coming fiscal year, based on the $5.7 million received for the $680 increase. This year’s operating budget is $64 million after drastic cost-cutting that, among other measures, resulted in a consolidation of schools and significantly fewer employees.
Cheyenne Cuellar, a Thunder Mountain Middle School teacher, encouraged the community to testify on a BSA increase at a school district site council meeting Thursday at TMMS.
“We need parents, community members, business owners, to testify,” Cuellar said. “So please show up. I’ve been thinking about how I’ve been teaching for 12 years in budget cuts.”
JSD announced it was facing a nearly $10 million deficit a year ago. On Thursday, Superintendent Frank Hauser gave an update on the school consolidation in a site council meeting.
Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser speaks about the impacts of the school consolidation at a site council meeting at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Jan. 23, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
He said JSD is struggling to fill vacancies, with some positions open for a year with no applicants. All available positions are listed on the JSD website. While recruitment and retention of teachers are the biggest challenges after the consolidation, the teacher staffing shortage is a national and statewide issue.
“We got there first,” he said. “We had to deal with those really difficult, hard conversations first. We had to close schools first. We had to go through and make some very difficult decisions around staffing. But we’ve gone through and done that hard part.”
Hauser said the district has a fund balance this year. “We actually have a real fund balance this year. We actually have the ability to plan and project and move forward.”
“I’ve said this to legislators,” Hauser said. “We’ve done our part.”
Data shows teacher shortages in Alaska from 2021 to 2025. (Alaska Department of Education and Early Development)
At Thursday’s site JSD meeting, parents and site council members expressed concerns that students are not receiving full services due to the lack of staffing.
On Friday, Rep. Story said HB 69 could support JSD.
The school district budget is due to municipalities by the end of March, she said, “so if we know something by March 15, they will not have to project all these cuts to our community.”
“We want to stabilize and want to make sure that we’re delivering within our schools right now,” Story said. The BSA increase “can be able to retain some teachers, put a few more in the classroom. Kids will get more personal attention.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
